Complete Works of Xenophon (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics) (140 page)

“Well, I suppose that the business of a good estate manager is to manage his own estate well.”
[3]

“Yes, and in case he were put in charge of another man’s estate, could he not, if he chose, manage it as well as he manages his own? Anyone who understands carpentry can do for another exactly the same work as he does for himself; and so, I presume, can a good estate manager.”

“I think so, Socrates.”
[4]

“Is it possible, then, for one who understands this art, even if he has no property of his own, to earn money by managing another man’s estate, just as he might do by building him a house?”

“Yes, of course; and he would get a good salary if, after taking over an estate, he continued to pay all outgoings, and to increase the estate by showing a balance.”

“But what do we mean now by an estate?
[5]
Is it the same thing as a house, or is all property that one possesses outside the house also part of the estate?”

“Well, I think that even if the property is situated in different cities, everything a man possesses is part of his estate.”
[6]

“Do not some men possess enemies?”

“Of course; some in fact possess many.”

“Shall we include their enemies in their possessions?”

“It would be ridiculous, surely, if one actually received a salary for increasing the number of a man’s enemies!”
[7]

“Because, you know, we supposed a man’s estate to be the same as his property.”

“To be sure — meaning thereby the good things that he possesses. No, of course I don’t call any bad thing that he may possess property.”

“You seem to use the word property of whatever is profitable to its owner.”

“Certainly; but what is harmful I regard as loss rather than wealth.”
[8]

“Yes, and consequently if a man buys a horse and doesn’t know how to manage it, and so keeps on getting thrown and injuring himself by trying to ride it, the horse is not wealth to him, I presume?”

“No, if we assume that wealth is a good thing.”

“It follows that land is not wealth either to a man who works it in such a way that his work results in loss.”

“To be sure: even land is not wealth if it makes us starve instead of supporting us.”
[9]

“And the same will hold good of sheep, will it not? if a man loses through ignorance of sheep farming, his sheep too will not be wealth to him?”

“I think not.”

“It seems, then, that your view is this: what is profitable is wealth, what is harmful is not wealth.”

“Quite so.”
[10]

“That is to say, the same things are wealth and not wealth, according as one understands or does not understand how to use them. A flute, for example, is wealth to one who is competent to play it, but to an incompetent person it is no better than useless stones.”

“True — unless he sells it.”
[11]

“We now see that to persons who don’t understand its use, a flute is wealth if they sell it, but not wealth if they keep it instead of selling.”

“Yes, Socrates, and our argument runs consistently, since we have said that what is profitable is wealth. For a flute, if not put up for sale, is not wealth, because it is useless: if put up for sale it becomes wealth.”
[12]

“Yes,” commented Socrates, “provided he knows how to sell; but again, in case he sells it for something he doesn’t know how to use, even then the sale doesn’t convert it into wealth, according to you.”

“You imply, Socrates, that even money isn’t wealth to one who doesn’t know how to use it.”
[13]

“And you, I think, agree with me to this extent, that wealth is that from which a man can derive profit. At any rate, if a man uses his money to buy a mistress who makes him worse off in body and soul and estate, how can his money be profitable to him then?”

“By no means, unless we are ready to maintain that the weed called nightshade, which drives you mad if you eat it, is wealth.”
[14]

“Then money is to be kept at a distance, Critobulus, if one doesn’t know how to use it, and not to be included in wealth. But how about friends? If one knows how to make use of them so as to profit by them, what are they to be called?”

“Wealth, of course, and much more so than cattle, if it be true that they are more profitable than cattle.”
[15]

“Yes, and it follows from what you say that enemies too are wealth to anyone who can derive profit from them.”

“Well, that is my opinion.”

“Consequently it is the business of a good estate manager to know how to deal with enemies so as to derive profit from them too.”

“Most decidedly.”

“In fact, Critobulus, you cannot fail to notice that many private persons have been indebted to war for the increase of their estates, and many princes too.”
[16]

“Yes, so far so good, Socrates. But sometimes we come across persons possessed of knowledge and means whereby they can increase their estates if they work, and we find that they are unwilling to do so; and consequently we see that their knowledge profits them nothing. What are we to make of that? In these cases, surely, neither their knowledge nor their property is wealth?”
[17]

“Are you trying to raise a discussion about slaves, Critobulus?”

“Oh no, not at all: I am referring to persons of whom some, at any rate, are considered men of the highest lineage. I observe that there are persons skilled in the arts of war or peace, as the case may be, who are unwilling to practice them, and the reason, I think, is just this, that they have no master over them.”
[18]

“What, no master over them, when, in spite of their prayers for prosperity and their desire to do what will bring them good, they are thwarted in their intentions by the powers that rule them?”
[19]

“And who, pray, may these unseen rulers be?”

“No, not unseen, but open and undisguised, surely! And very vicious rulers they are too, as you yourself must see, if at least you regard idleness and moral cowardice and negligence as vice.
[20]
Aye, and then there is a set of deceitful mistresses that pretend to be pleasures — such as gambling and consorting with bad companions: even the victims of their deception find as time goes on that these, after all, are really pains concealed beneath a thin veneer of pleasures, and that they are hindering them from all profitable work by their influence over them.”
[21]

“But there are other men, Socrates, whose energy is not hindered by these influences, in fact they have an eager desire to work and to make an income: nevertheless they exhaust their estates and are beset with difficulties.”
[22]

“Yes, they too are slaves, and hard indeed are their masters: some are in bondage to gluttony, some to lechery, some to drink, and some to foolish and costly ambitions. And so hard is the rule of these passions over every man who falls into their clutches, that so long as they see that he is strong and capable of work, they force him to pay over all the profits of his toil, and to spend it on their own desires; but no sooner do they find that he is too old to work, than they leave him to an old age of misery, and try to fasten the yoke on other shoulders.
[23]
Ah, Critobulus, we must fight for our freedom against these tyrants as persistently as if they were armed men trying to enslave us. Indeed, open enemies may be gentlemen, and when they enslave us, may, by chastening, purge us of our faults and cause us to live better lives in future. But such mistresses as these never cease to plague men in body and soul and estate all the time that they have dominion over them.”

2.
The word was now with Critobulus, who continued thus:

“Well, I think you have told me quite enough about such passions as these, and when I examine myself I find, I think, that I have them fairly well under control; and therefore, if you will advise me what I should do to increase my estate, I don’t think those mistresses, as you call them, are likely to hinder me. So do not hesitate to give me any good advice you can: unless, indeed, you have made up your mind that we are rich enough already, Socrates, and think we have no need of more money?”
[2]

“Oh, if you mean to include me, I certainly think I have no need of more money and am rich enough. But you seem to me to be quite poor, Critobulus, and at times, I assure you, I feel quite sorry for you.”
[3]

“And how much, pray,” asked Critobulus, laughing, “would your property fetch at a sale, do you suppose, Socrates, and how much would mine?”

“Well, if I found a good buyer, I think the whole of my goods and chattels, including the house, might readily sell for five minae. Yours, I feel sure, would fetch more than a hundred times that sum.”
[4]

“And in spite of that estimate, you really think you have no need of money and pity me for my poverty?”

“Yes, because my property is sufficient to satisfy my wants, but I don’t think you would have enough to keep up the style you are living in and to support your reputation, even if your fortune were three times what it is.”
[5]

“How can that be?” exclaimed Critobulus.

“Because, in the first place,” explained Socrates, “I notice that you are bound to offer many large sacrifices; else, I fancy, you would get into trouble with gods and men alike. Secondly, it is your duty to entertain many strangers, on a generous scale too. Thirdly, you have to give dinners and play the benefactor to the citizens, or you lose your following.
[6]
Moreover, I observe that already the state is exacting heavy contributions from you: you must needs keep horses, pay for choruses and gymnastic competitions, and accept presidencies; and if war breaks out, I know they will require you to maintain a ship and pay taxes that will nearly crush you. Whenever you seem to fall short of what is expected of you, the Athenians will certainly punish you as though they had caught you robbing them.
[7]
Besides all this, I notice that you imagine yourself to be a rich man; you are indifferent to money, and yet go courting minions, as though the cost were nothing to you. And that is why I pity you, and fear that you may come to grief and find yourself reduced to penury.
[8]
Now, if I ran short of money, no doubt you know as well as I do that I should not lack helpers who would need to contribute very little to fill my cup to overflowing. But your friends, though far better supplied with means to support their establishment than you, yet look to receive help from you.”
[9]

“I cannot dispute this, Socrates,” said Critobulus, “but it is time for you to take me in hand, and see that I don’t become a real object of pity.”

At this Socrates exclaimed, “What, don’t you think it strange, Critobulus, that a little while ago, when I said I was rich, you laughed at me, as though I did not even know the meaning of riches, and would not cease until you had proved me wrong and made me own that my possessions were less than one-hundredth part of yours, and yet now you bid me take you in hand and see that you don’t become in literal truth a poor man?”
[10]

“Well, Socrates, I see that you understand one process by which wealth is created — how to create a balance. So a man who saves on a small income can, I suppose, very easily show a large surplus with a large one.”
[11]

“Then don’t you remember saying just now in our conversation, when you wouldn’t give me leave to utter a syllable, that if a man doesn’t know how to manage horses, his horses are not wealth to him, nor his land, sheep, money or anything else, if he doesn’t know how to manage them? Now these are the sources from which income is derived: and how do you suppose that I can possibly know how to manage any of these things, seeing that I never yet possessed any one of them?”
[12]

“Still we held that, even if a man happens to have no wealth, there is such a thing as a science of household management. Then what reason is there why you should not know it?”

“Exactly the same reason, of course, that a man would have for not knowing how to play on the flute if he had never possessed one himself and had never borrowed one to learn on.
[13]
That is just my case with regard to estate management; for never having possessed wealth myself, I have not had an opportunity of learning on an instrument of my own, and nobody has ever let me handle his, until you made your offer. Beginners, I fancy, are apt to spoil the lyres they learn on; and if I attempted to learn to manage estates by practising on yours, possibly I might spoil it entirely for you.”
[14]

“Ah, Socrates!” rejoined Critobulus, “I see you are eager to avoid giving me any help towards lightening the weight of my troublesome duties.”

“Not at all, not at all,” said Socrates, “I am all eagerness to tell you all I know.
[15]
Suppose that you had come to me for fire, and I, having none by me, had taken you to some place where you could get it; you would not, I think, have found fault with me: or, if you had asked for water, and I, having none myself, had brought you to some other place for it, I feel sure that you would not have found fault with me for that either: or, suppose you wanted to learn music with me and I directed you to persons far more skilled in music than I am, who would be grateful to you for taking lessons with them, what fault could you find with me for doing so?”
[16]

“None, if I were fair, Socrates.”

“Well then, Critobulus, I will direct you to others far more skilled than I in the things you now seek to learn from me. I confess that I have made a point of finding out who are the greatest masters of various sciences to be found in Athens.
[17]
For observing once that the same pursuits lead in one case to great poverty and in another to great riches, I was filled with amazement, and thought it worth while to consider what this could mean. And on consideration I found that these things happen quite naturally.
[18]
For I saw that those who follow these pursuits carelessly suffer loss, and I discovered that those who devote themselves earnestly to them accomplish them more quickly, more easily and with more profit. I think that if you would elect to learn from these, you too with God’s favour would turn out a clever man of business.”